Medical devices such as endovascular or intravascular devices have been used for many years for purposes such as performing various medical procedures. For example, a medical device such as a guidewire or catheter may be used to navigate through the tortuous anatomy of a patient to reach an area of interest and guide other medical devices thereto to perform one or more therapeutic procedures. A medical device may be introduced into a patient's anatomy or vasculature at a relatively accessible location such as a femoral, brachial or other suitable artery, and guided through the patient's anatomy to the desired location. Often fluoroscopy or other imaging techniques are used to observe a portion of the medical device such as the tip to aid in navigation. The medical device may be rotated at bifurcations in the anatomy before being advanced to guide the medical device to the desired location.
It is often desirable that a medical device such as an intravascular device to be laterally flexible such that it can bend easily in order to allow it to navigate the often tortuous anatomy of a patient and to minimize trauma to the patient. It is often also desirable that such medical devices have relatively stiff torsional characteristics to permit control of the device when navigating it through the anatomy. A number of different medical devices having flexibility and tortional stiffness characteristics are known, each having certain advantages and disadvantages. However, there is an ongoing need to provide alternative elongated medical device structures and assemblies.